Agency
by hoshi-ni-onegai
Summary: A persistent red-headed field agent pesters Kaoru as she fills out mountains of paperwork. AU. One-shot. KxK


Author Notes: Another one of my little short fics. I know this is odd to say myself, but I am kind of proud that all of my one shots have had very distinctly different background and/or genre. I hope you enjoy my latest one! Tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: The _Rurouni Kenshin_ world and all characters depicted are a creation of mangaka, Watsuki Nobuhiro.

**Agency**

By Hoshi-ni-Onegai

Kaoru frowned. She could feel his eyes on her back. There was a distinctive sensation that crawled down her spine when his gazed rested on her. She did not appreciate any resting of eyes, especially when she was completely convinced it was unwarranted and unprovoked.

"What do you want Himura?"

The man came up behind her to her desk. He tilted his head to the side, his messy bangs moving along with him. "Kenshin. Not Himura."

Kaoru rolled her eyes. He could only give him props for being persistent; annoying, but persistent.

She finally looked up at him and noticed a slight change in appearance. "Did you cut off your ponytail?"

He smiled, "About two weeks ago -for the assignment."

Kaoru nodded and went back to work on the mountain of paperwork at her side. "Good thing too, you looked like you belonged in the 80s hair band before."

"Like Motley Crew?"

"No, more like Whitesnake."

He frowned. It was one thing to be associated with band that was considered bad ass and rebellious -albeit 80s. But Whitesnake? They were way too glam rock and theatrical for his taste. "Were you a Whitesnake fan back in the day?"

Taking off her glasses she looked up at him and raised a brow. "How old do you think I am Himura?"

"Kenshin."

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry if you're Mr. 'I can remember the 80s perfectly,' but was a toddler when the 90s started. If I'm a fan of 80s music now, it is all thanks to those stupid count-down shows."

Kenshin sighed at her comment. He was what some people would label as "significantly older" than Kaoru, but he wondered if eleven years was really all that significant.

"Did you want anything else? Or did you just want me to comment on that new hair?" Without little more acknowledgement she went back to her paperwork.

He glimpsed down at her, he knew exactly how to get her attention. "Actually, I have a question about a case I'm working on."

Her ears perked up and she whipped her head up. A smile unconsciously spread across her face. "What are the specs?"

Hook, line, and sinker. "Female. Mid-twenties. Single. Lives alone. Occupation: babysitter."

"What's the wrap?"

"She has an admirer."

The smile disappeared and frown took its place. "An admirer? You mean a stalker."

He was the one to frown this time, "No, admirer."

"So, what about her?"

"Well, you see. This admirer, who is a charming red-head, is trying to ask this girl out do dinner and is wondering what the best tactic would be."

She looked has his hair and back at him, "Either this is the dumbest case the agency has taken on, or you're asking me for dating advice."

He shrugged, "Dating advice then."

She sighed and went back to work. "Invited her to a cup of coffee. It's noncommittal and comfortable... Oh, and Himura. Be careful with the jail bait."

"Jail bait?"

Kaoru nodded, "If her occupation is babysitting, she can't be very old."

He ginned, "She's legal. Don't worry."

"Just barely I bet." She was then distracted by her partner who finally stumbled into their shared office.

The man grinned when he saw Kenshin in his office, "Asking Jou-chan out on a date again."

Kaoru rolled her eyes, "No, he was asking me for dating advice. He's going for younger meat now."

Sano looked his long-time friend over, "Seriously Kenshin? Any younger than her and you'll end up going out with a fetus."

"I'm twenty-four, not twelve. Also, you're only like what? Two years older than I am?"

She then glanced at his hands. His right one was bandaged up -a result of their last case and the lack of weaponry- that meant that she was now stuck doing all the paperwork to get through the red tape for their case. She had been working on it for the past week and she was getting grumpier by the day. What she was concerned with was not his useless dominant hand, but his empty left one. "Where the hell is my coffee?"

Sano glanced down at his had, almost expecting to find a mug in his hand. "Crap. Sorry Jou-chan, must've forgot. I'll be right back."

As Sano left Kenshin laughed, "What was that all about?"

She sighed, "When he needed a blunt object to hit someone with during our last case, the closest thing he found was his fist. So now, I'm stuck filling out all the forms and writing out all the reports on why one of our field agents is temporarily immobile and why the case ended in a high-speed chase and a factory blowing up." She kept on frantically filling out the forms, "So now he owes me coffee, twice a day, until I'm done filling these out."

He grinned, "You don't have a partner right now?"

She frowned, "Yes I do. He's just more useless than usual."

"Want to partner with me? Help me with my current case?"

She rolled her eyes, "What? Your dating dilemma? I'm sure you can handle it. Anways, you have Aoshi as a partner."

Kenshin shrugged, "He got reassigned to the new field agent... Matsumachi something."

"You mean Makimachi? Makimachi Misao?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Kaoru laughed, "I went through intelligence training with her. God, I can't imagine how Aoshi is going to be able to handle her."

"So how about it Kaoru? Want to join my team?"

She glared at him and her familiarity, "Kamiya. Anyways, I'm sure Hiko isn't going to approve this. Sano's incompetence maybe permanent but his injury is temporary. I can't leave him without a partner."

Kenshin smirked, "Hiko has already approved. You don't have to worry about Sano. Hiko wanted to partner him up with Takani."

She frowned, "She's research. She's not an intelligence field agent."

"She wants to eventually join the agent family, so what better way than to do research with an out of order agent then transition back into training along with him?"

She examined his face and found no twitches indicating a lie, "I'm starting to get the feeling that maybe you planned all this out."

He shrugged, "I did put the idea in Hiko's ear, but I wasn't the one that conveniently fractured my right hand in six different places though."

She considered his words for a moment then sighed. "Fine. I'll break it to Sano."

Kenshin grinned, "See, you're the best babysitter I've ever met."

Hearing his words she glared.

As he left the door he called out after her, "We should get coffee sometime."

Kaoru considered the situation. She wondered if that frustrating man orchestrated everything, and maybe he also had a hand in Sano's injury.


End file.
